1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ceramic layered product and a method for manufacturing the ceramic layered product.
2. Description of the Related Art
A ceramic capacitor, in which ceramic layers (dielectric layers) and internal electrode layers are stacked alternately until the required number of layers is achieved, has been put into widespread practical use.
The following method is known as a method for manufacturing the ceramic capacitor. A conductive paste that serves as an internal electrode layer is printed and applied to a ceramic green sheet, and a plurality of the ceramic green sheets are stacked and fired.
Another method for forming an internal electrode layer has been developed. This method includes forming a metal thin film on a supporting film by a thin film formation method such as vapor deposition, and transferring the metal thin film onto a ceramic green sheet. Compared with the method using the conductive paste, this method significantly can reduce the thickness of the internal electrode layer, so that a small, large-capacitance ceramic capacitor is expected to be available.
Moreover, a method for improving the transfer property of a metal thin film that is formed on a supporting film with respect to a ceramic green sheet has been proposed (e.g., Japanese Patent No. 3097007).
However, when two or more layers of a ceramic green sheet provided with a metal thin film that is formed by a thin film formation method are stacked and fired, the metal thin films can be sintered and fractured. This problem becomes more pronounced as the thickness of the metal thin film is made smaller.
To achieve a small, large-capacitance ceramic capacitor, a reduction in thickness of the internal electrode layer is inevitable, and thus the internal electrode layer is required not to be fractured during firing.